2008 Monteviejo "Festivo" Malbec Mendoza (Previously $12)

SKU #1055384

According to Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "Monteviejo’s 2008 Festivo Malbec offers up an attractive nose of spice box, incense, and black cherry. This leads to a medium-bodied wine with ample ripe black fruit, plenty of spice notes, good depth, and a medium-long finish. Drink it over the next 5 years." (08/09) Produced from 100% malbec sourced from various top sites in the Mendoza region of Argentina, Festivo could be called the winery’s entry-level bottling, but there is nothing at all "entry" about it. In fact, one of the world’s most in-demand wine consultants, Michel Rolland, who lists way too many top-notch Bordeaux, Napa and Italian names on his client roster to begin mentioning them here, has a hand in the making of this wine.

Additional Information:

Varietal:

Malbec

- These days if you're drinking a Malbec it's probably from Argentina. The most planted grape in that country, varietally-labeled Argentine Malbecs are one of the wine market's great values, prized for their slight herbal component and dark, luscious fruit. Structurally, Argentina's Malbecs are much different than those grown in the grape's native France; they are riper, fruitier and fleshier. In France, the best iterations of Malbec can be found in the Cahors, where it can be quite decadent. It is also planted in the Loire Valley, where it is called Côt and is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon or Gamay, and in Bordeaux, where it has fallen from favor in many of the region's great blends because it is difficult to grow. In the United States, the varietal is frequently added to Meritage wines - Bordeaux style blends - but it is rarely found on its own.

Country:

Argentina

- Argentina is regarded as one of the most dynamic wine-producing nations in the world, and possibly the most important wine-producing region in South America. Only four countries in the world produce more wine than Argentina. Considerable investments (much of which has come from famous French, Italian and California wine producers) have been made in new vineyards and winemaking technology in the past several years, which along with recent plantings of more premium varieties of grapes, has made Argentina much more competitive internationally. The Mendoza region is the most important region in Argentina's wine industry. And Malbec, among other Bordeaux varietals grown here, reigns supreme. Click for a list of bestselling items from Argentina.